{"id":11861,"date":"2020-04-17T15:41:59","date_gmt":"2020-04-17T19:41:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/digital.hbs.edu\/platform-digit\/submission\/aifi-making-retail-store-autonomous-using-ai\/"},"modified":"2020-04-17T15:41:59","modified_gmt":"2020-04-17T19:41:59","slug":"aifi-making-retail-store-autonomous-using-ai","status":"publish","type":"hck-submission","link":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/submission\/aifi-making-retail-store-autonomous-using-ai\/","title":{"rendered":"AiFi \u2013 Making Retail Store Autonomous using AI"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>AiFi is an AI and computer vision company that uses AI, Machine Learning, Computer Vision and Sensor Flow to bring a check-out free experience to any retail store concept. Two years ago Amazon launched its own AI\/ML enabled store Amazon Go<sup>1<\/sup>, where you just walk into an Amazon Go store, pick the items you want to buy and walk out and a bill is automatically sent to your Amazon account. AiFi is aiming to bring a similar experience to any retail store concept from small convenience stores to large department store such as Walmart.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Introducing Amazon Go and the world\u2019s most advanced shopping technology\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/NrmMk1Myrxc?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><em>Amazon Go shopping experience<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Today retail sales are still overwhelming through retail stores and according to Steve Gu, AiFi\u2019s CEO, last year Americans spent over 37 billion hours waiting in line which is one the main frustration retail shoppers face.<sup>2<\/sup> The AiFi solution intends to make the shopping experience more efficient and convenient. The CEO further states that \u201cAiFi is designed to scale \u2013 it can support tracking up to 500 people, and tens of thousands of SKU item numbers.\u201d<sup>3<\/sup><\/p>\n<p>The AiFi solution does not only allow for a checkout free experience it will allows shop owners more collect data on individual shopping behavior by monitoring and analyzing movement, gestures and actions in the store. Ultimately, this will allow retailers to analyze shopping behavior like never before. What further makes the proposition unique is that it does not require custom layouts or major retro-fitting, but could be installed in current stores.<\/p>\n<p>Th<span style=\"text-decoration: underline\">e following are the main advantages I see of the AiFi proposition:<\/span><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Cost saving for stores<\/li>\n<li>Improve customer experience translates into higher sales<\/li>\n<li>Generate Insights to retrofit stores<\/li>\n<li>Get real-time alerts on stock outs<\/li>\n<li>Understand consumer behavior and shopping patterns in store<\/li>\n<li>Stores could remain open 24\/7<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline\">This proposition similarly has a few disadvantages:<\/span><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Errors, potential errors in image recognitions, processing or an unusual scenario for which the AI is not trained<\/li>\n<li>Consumer privacy issues<\/li>\n<li>Potential regulations on privacy and Retail Autonomous stores<\/li>\n<li>Job-losses that could result from the displacement of Cashiers and other store employees<\/li>\n<li>Expensive to implement, high-upfront cost, projected to reduce as key hardware products become commoditized<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>AiFi has three products right now:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li><strong>The Autonomous Store Platform:<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>This is a Turnkey solution which can be used in existing stores to enable them to become autonomous, integrating several of AiFi\u2019s APIs and seamless integration with existing POS, front and back-end systems of the retail store. This is enabled by computer vision algorithms that create a 3d map of the store and tracks every movement from entry to exit of a customer.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Albert Heijn&#039;s digital store opens at Amsterdam Schiphol Airport\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/iqYDN4Xb-t4?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<ol start=\"2\">\n<li><strong>NanoStore<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>NanoStore is a custom designed and built fully automated, container sized, checkout free store that could be operated 24\/7 without store employees.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Visiting AiFi NanoStore, a fully automated store of the future\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/cSuz2QIxFHU?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<ol start=\"3\">\n<li><strong>The SimStore<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>SimStore is simulator for autonomous stores. It simulates retail environment to train the AI for different scenarios, which enables deployments to handle the whole host of real world scenarios.<\/p>\n<p><strong>AiFi leverages Synthetic Data to Train AI<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The main challenge that seed and Series A companies like AiFi face is to train AI and develop machine learning algorithm requires sourcing large scale of data which is extremely costly. AiFi is navigating this challenge by using synthetically generated data, simulating stores using Avatars to generate synthetic shopper behavior data to refine and train its AI<sup>4<\/sup>. Gartner projects that by 2022, 25% of AI\u2019s training data will be synthetically generated<sup>4<\/sup>. The approach of using synthetic data is used by Waymo for the driverless car project while Tesla has largely developed a real world data set<sup>4<\/sup>. The advantages of using Synthetic data include: Cost advantages, generate much higher volume of data, and protect consumer privacy.<\/p>\n<p>Overall, the AiFi proposition seems extremely promising which has the potential to completely revolutionize retail using Artificial intelligence, Machine learning and Computer Vision. With more data collection the algorithms would become better and creating large barriers for entry for new entrants.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><em>References<\/em><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Amazon.com. 2020. <em>Amazon.Com: : Amazon Go<\/em>. [online] Available at: &lt;https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/b?ie=UTF8&amp;node=16008589011&gt; [Accessed 17 April 2020].<\/li>\n<li>\u00a0Coberly, C., 2020. <em>Aifi Aims To Bring Checkout-Free Shopping To Any Physical Retail Location<\/em>. [online] TechSpot. Available at: &lt;https:\/\/www.techspot.com\/news\/73463-aifi-aims-bring-checkout-free-shopping-any-physical.html&gt; [Accessed 17 April 2020].<\/li>\n<li>Perez, S., 2018. <em>Https:\/\/Techcrunch.Com\/2018\/02\/27\/Aifi-Emerges-From-Stealth-With-Its-Own-Take-On-Cashier-Free-Retail-Similar-To-Amazon-Go\/<\/em>. [online] Techcrunch.com. Available at: &lt;https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/2018\/02\/27\/aifi-emerges-from-stealth-with-its-own-take-on-cashier-free-retail-similar-to-amazon-go\/&gt; [Accessed 17 April 2020].<\/li>\n<li>Gartner, 2018. <em>Predicts 2019: The Democratization Of AI<\/em>. Gartner, pp.8-10.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>AiFi uses AI, machine learning, computer vision and sensor flow to bring a check-out free experience to any retail store concept.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11570,"featured_media":11866,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","categories":[877,1423,1535,366,2511,647,2225,1094],"class_list":["post-11861","hck-submission","type-hck-submission","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ai","category-autonomy","category-computer-vision","category-machine-learning","category-mapping","category-retail","category-retail-technology","category-sensors","hck-taxonomy-organization-aifi","hck-taxonomy-industry-technology","hck-taxonomy-country-united-states"],"connected_submission_link":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/assignment\/competing-with-data-and-ai-challenge\/","yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>AiFi \u2013 Making Retail Store Autonomous using AI - Digital Innovation and Transformation<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/submission\/aifi-making-retail-store-autonomous-using-ai\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"AiFi \u2013 Making Retail Store Autonomous using AI - Digital Innovation and Transformation\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"AiFi uses AI, machine learning, computer vision and sensor flow to bring a check-out free experience to any retail store concept.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/submission\/aifi-making-retail-store-autonomous-using-ai\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Digital Innovation and Transformation\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2020\/04\/Pink-with-ramp-1-scaled.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"3150\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"2220\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/d3.harvard.edu\\\/platform-digit\\\/submission\\\/aifi-making-retail-store-autonomous-using-ai\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/d3.harvard.edu\\\/platform-digit\\\/submission\\\/aifi-making-retail-store-autonomous-using-ai\\\/\",\"name\":\"AiFi \u2013 Making Retail Store Autonomous using AI - Digital Innovation and Transformation\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/d3.harvard.edu\\\/platform-digit\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/d3.harvard.edu\\\/platform-digit\\\/submission\\\/aifi-making-retail-store-autonomous-using-ai\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/d3.harvard.edu\\\/platform-digit\\\/submission\\\/aifi-making-retail-store-autonomous-using-ai\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/d3.harvard.edu\\\/platform-digit\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/2\\\/2020\\\/04\\\/Pink-with-ramp-1-scaled.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-04-17T19:41:59+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/d3.harvard.edu\\\/platform-digit\\\/submission\\\/aifi-making-retail-store-autonomous-using-ai\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/d3.harvard.edu\\\/platform-digit\\\/submission\\\/aifi-making-retail-store-autonomous-using-ai\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/d3.harvard.edu\\\/platform-digit\\\/submission\\\/aifi-making-retail-store-autonomous-using-ai\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/d3.harvard.edu\\\/platform-digit\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/2\\\/2020\\\/04\\\/Pink-with-ramp-1-scaled.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/d3.harvard.edu\\\/platform-digit\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/2\\\/2020\\\/04\\\/Pink-with-ramp-1-scaled.jpg\",\"width\":3150,\"height\":2220},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/d3.harvard.edu\\\/platform-digit\\\/submission\\\/aifi-making-retail-store-autonomous-using-ai\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/d3.harvard.edu\\\/platform-digit\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Submissions\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/d3.harvard.edu\\\/platform-digit\\\/submission\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"AiFi \u2013 Making Retail Store Autonomous using AI\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/d3.harvard.edu\\\/platform-digit\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/d3.harvard.edu\\\/platform-digit\\\/\",\"name\":\"Digital Innovation and Transformation\",\"description\":\"MBA Student Perspectives\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"性视界Action\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/d3.harvard.edu\\\/platform-digit\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"AiFi \u2013 Making Retail Store Autonomous using AI - Digital Innovation and Transformation","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/submission\/aifi-making-retail-store-autonomous-using-ai\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"AiFi \u2013 Making Retail Store Autonomous using AI - Digital Innovation and Transformation","og_description":"AiFi uses AI, machine learning, computer vision and sensor flow to bring a check-out free experience to any retail store concept.","og_url":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/submission\/aifi-making-retail-store-autonomous-using-ai\/","og_site_name":"Digital Innovation and Transformation","og_image":[{"width":3150,"height":2220,"url":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2020\/04\/Pink-with-ramp-1-scaled.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/submission\/aifi-making-retail-store-autonomous-using-ai\/","url":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/submission\/aifi-making-retail-store-autonomous-using-ai\/","name":"AiFi \u2013 Making Retail Store Autonomous using AI - Digital Innovation and Transformation","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/submission\/aifi-making-retail-store-autonomous-using-ai\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/submission\/aifi-making-retail-store-autonomous-using-ai\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2020\/04\/Pink-with-ramp-1-scaled.jpg","datePublished":"2020-04-17T19:41:59+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/submission\/aifi-making-retail-store-autonomous-using-ai\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/submission\/aifi-making-retail-store-autonomous-using-ai\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/submission\/aifi-making-retail-store-autonomous-using-ai\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2020\/04\/Pink-with-ramp-1-scaled.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2020\/04\/Pink-with-ramp-1-scaled.jpg","width":3150,"height":2220},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/submission\/aifi-making-retail-store-autonomous-using-ai\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Submissions","item":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/submission\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"AiFi \u2013 Making Retail Store Autonomous using AI"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/#website","url":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/","name":"Digital Innovation and Transformation","description":"MBA Student Perspectives","potentialAction":[{"@type":"性视界Action","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hck-submission\/11861","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hck-submission"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/hck-submission"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11570"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11861"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hck-submission\/11861\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11866"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11861"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11861"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}